Mmmmm, Digestives

Ah, digestive biscuits. How do I love thee? Well, for one, I could count the number of packages I've consumed. Or, perhaps, it's how I've reasoned away the amount of fat (fett in Swedish) each one contains (23% fat); they are quite the little fat bomb. I had read that it was the bad fat (that insipid partially-hydrogenated oil kind of fat). But, luckily, the article was old, and I found another article stating that manufacturers had replaced the bad stuff. And that is what I am going to believe. It makes me feel better.

My previous loves, pistagebullar and tasty treats, have gone by the wayside; they only tempt me occasionally now. Willpower triumphs. But not over all. Digestives seem to be in my diet to stay. Considering their somewhat bland flavor, I cannot quite figure out why I like them so much. They have a nice texture and tend to crumble. Which I like. Perhaps, it's a simple as that. They also are a nice complement to the somewhat bitter lingonberry jam. FYI: Lingonberry can be found at your local IKEA. Try it!

What exactly is a digestives biscuit? A number of websites, including this one, have waxed poetic on the digestive. Here's my take. It's a wheat flour biscuit which originated in Scotland. Early marketing efforts touted the digestive properties of the biscuits due to the high content of baking soda. Hence the moniker, digestive biscuit. The claims turned out to be false. But, the name stuck. And, although the venerated brand McVite's originated the biscuit, I am just as happy with a generic Scandinavian brand (and a generic price). As long as I can get the same taste, why pay more? I prefer the sweet meal variety which, as you might have guessed, is sweeter in taste.

Eating them takes me back to traveling across Europe in 1999. I would stop into small stores. I bought tetra paks of 100% real juice as well as cookies or some other sweet snack to keep me going for the day. I remember picking up something similar to McVite's biscuits and thinking how absolutely bland they were. Cheap, but bland. Like a bad graham cracker. Back then, I had tried a less crumbly, even less-flavored digestive biscuit. Luckily, I have given them another go. Pass me another fat bomb, please.